School budget better than thought

The Grayville School District will apparently exceed financial expectations for the fiscal year.

An amended budget adopted Wednesday night by the School Board projects an overall operational deficit of $9,364, compared to the original anticipated loss of $91,764.

Special to The TimesBy Patrick SeilThe Grayville Navigator

The Grayville School District will apparently exceed financial expectations for the fiscal year.

An amended budget adopted Wednesday night by the School Board projects an overall operational deficit of $9,364, compared to the original anticipated loss of $91,764.

Actual cash amounts to $89,245 in the black, but that includes $98,609 from an energy efficiency grant and a school maintenance grant that were received this year, but will not be expended until next fiscal year, according to Supt. Sarah Emery.

The education fund was projected to fall $121,222 short of break-even but the loss is now projected at $54,245. Operations and maintenance came out far ahead, projected to be $585 to the positive and now expected to finish $40,993 in the black. Unexpected expenditures boosted the loss in transportation from an anticipated $6,215 in the black to $11,885 in the red, however.

At an earlier meeting, Emery noted the district was due to receive $1,452,096 in state aid, but actually received only $1,288,082, or $164,014 less than expected.

State funding to the district continues to decrease, reported Dr. Melissa Crow, principal at Wells Elementary School.

She told the board the district will receive $82,956 this year in Title I funding, down from $107,237 last year.

The grant covers salary and benefits for Melba Leavens, who handles the district's Title I program, as well as for aide assistance, but that may not be the case this year, she said.

"I was hoping to assign more aide time to help Mrs. Leavens out, but that's not even going to cover Mrs. Leavens' salary as well as an aide's salary so that's frustrating."

The district will receive a $27,000 Title IIa grant to keep class sizes down at the first grade level as well as a pre-kindergarten grant of $102,337, she said.

Emery reported summer maintenance work is moving swiftly. The repair of the elementary gym floor is halfway finished and no additional concrete work will be required, she said.

She also said air conditioning work will vacate the office next week and boiler work will begin at the elementary school, both covered by grant funds-but the air conditioning raised a couple of eyebrows at the table.

"Can I ask what A/C work they're doing?" board member John Stockton inquired.

"You remember we talked about putting the vents in, replacing the-Marlene (Williams) doesn't have air, Rita (Rhinehart) doesn't have air, we have the one window unit in the office. Part of the work in that grant was to, because we're about to the point that unit has to be replaced, was to put a rooftop unit and vent it to all the offices so everyone has air," said Emery.

That drew a response from board member Vanessa Fullop.

"I remember that being brought up as a possibility when you were applying for that grant but I thought once that grant was received we would be presented with things to have done and we would vote on it," she said.

"When you submit that grant, the architect has to put in the actual projects you're going to do," Emery replied.

Board member John Gray declared the board had decided to proceed with the work if the grant was approved.

"It was already submitted to the state that way. We voted on that," he told Fullop

"Okay. Whatever you say. I don't recall that," said Fullop, letting it drop.

Food services for the district lost $33,000 over the last school year, Emery reported. She said the board might want to consider contracting services out to a company such as Sodexo, a multinational food services and facilities management corporation based in France.

Emery said she had been in contact with a Sodexo representative early in the school year. Based on projections for the past year, a Sodexo deal would have cost the district $21,500.

If the same numbers were used but labor was decreased by Sodexo, the loss to the district would have been $8,000, Emery said. Add in a price hike, and the loss would be cut to $6,300, she said.

Emery said she is unsure if Sodexo would be interested, but "That's something we really need to look into."

The board voted to renew its workman's compensation coverage. The policy cost $22,879 last year and there will be a 5.44 percent increase in the premium, a jump of $1,244.

Early registration dates were set by the board for Monday, Aug. 4, from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. and Tuesday, Aug. 5, from 4 to 7 p.m.

Registration fees were also approved. Most stayed unchanged, except the technology fee for grades K-5 increased from $15 to $25, the agenda fee for grades 7-12 was dropped, breakfast for grades K-12 went from $1 to $1.25 and lunch fees are going to $2 for grades K-6 from $1.85, $2.50 or grades 7-12 from $2.35 and to $3 for adults from$2.35. Extra milk is up from 35 cents to 50 cents.

The board renewed its contract with Rosetta Stone for foreign language instruction for two years at a cost of $10,790, a savings of $1,200 over the single-year charge of $5,995 for 55 users.

Emery noted other districts are also struggling to find foreign language teachers and Gray recommended the hunt continue while the district realizes a savings over the next two years.

Schools

Original content available for non-commercial use under a Creative Commons license, except where noted.
The Carmi Times - Carmi, IL ~ 323 E. Main Street Carmi, Ill. 62821 ~ Privacy Policy ~ Terms Of Service